Creating the Sound of Space Part I: Gravity

“[Sound] is like a comfort layer that we all take for granted… And when you remove that, it’s like a huge safety net that you’re removing."

 -Skip Lievsay describing Gravity’s sound design to The Verge.  

Ever wonder what the sound of space is like? Let me tell you. There is no sound. There is nothing to conduct sound. No way for it to travel. It’s silent. So I think it would be easy to imagine why this might be next to impossible to replicate on screen without boring your audience to death.

Think of Stars Wars for a second. It is a film that took place in outer space, the same outer space that we float around in even though it was a galaxy far, far away. Still, there were plenty of sounds coming from laser cannons, collisions, and explosions. Why? Because it is far more entertaining that listening to the sound of space.

George Clooney in Gravity. Warner Bros.

In an effort to stay true to the sound of space, but to also keep the audience awake throughout the film, the sound designers of Gravity explored unique solutions to the age old problems of films taking place outside of our stratosphere.

First and foremost (as always here), a Hyper- Realistic approach had to be taken. As an audience, if we intended to hear anything at all, we needed to experience the film through the characters. Sound is transmitted through our bodies and to our ears through vibrations, and this is the approach taken by the Gravity team.

Since it was decided that only contact noise could be used for sound, it was almost primarily only contact noise that they recorded. Contact microphones were placed on all kinds of robots and machines to create the metallic sounds heard throughout the film. Heartbeats were added to the sound track when the intention was to be intimate with the character.  The vocal tracks were distorted to replicate the sound of a voice being transmitted through a radio (Unless, of course the purpose was to make the character feel isolated. Then a nearly clean vocal was used allowing us to enter their suit with them.). Even the score had to be adjusted for playback in space, and it received a lot of the same treatment as the vocals did.

Clooney and Bullock on the set of Gravity. Entertainment Weekly. 

All of these effects add up to create a sound that is both interesting for the audience to listen to, but also incredibly intimate and nearly true to real life. And all of this happened before the team even took to the unique style of vocal and effect panning. Sounds will swirl around the audience, trying to mimic the action on screen. Gravity offers a life like experience that, unfortunately,  is often disregarded because it has been deemed “too distracting.”

Be sure to visit The Verge and Sound Works Collection for more information on the sound of Gravity.